Rains have returned to parts of the Brazilian grain belt, allowing farmers to finally begin soybean planting in the Southernmost portion of the country. Heavy and widespread rains fell over the past couple of weeks in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana and Mato Grosso do Sul, but so far only scattered rains have fallen in other important grower states such as Mato Grosso and Goias.
In No. 2 soybean state Parana, over 40% of the corn and almost 5% of the soybeans are on the field. In top producer Mato Grosso, which usually opens the bean planting season in Brazil, on less than 1% of the crop has been sown so far. Widespread rains are expected in the region only in in the first days of November, forecasters say. In both cases, planting progress is still behind normal pace.
Brazilian farmers may be behind in sowings their soybean crop but are well ahead in selling it. As of the beginning of the month, over one-fourth of the next harvest was sold. In Mato Grosso and Maranhao about half of the crop is sold.
Official estimates released today show that Brazil may be on for a record soybean crop this year. Conab, Brazil's crop supply bureau, pegged the 2010/11 harvest in the world's second soybean grower between 1.84 and 1.87 billion bushels. Planted area is expected to rise 1% o 3% this year, making up for what is expected to be a season of lower yields.
Corn farmers may trim the planted area by 2% to 4% and production may fall as much as 7.5%. According to Conab, summer corn crop is set to fall to 776-790 million bushels in 2010-11, thanks to competition with soybeans for acres and lower yields associates with the La Nina weather pattern.
